When you are sick or injured, you seek medical care to feel better. Depending on the severity of your condition, your doctor may prescribe opioids or other drugs to help you manage symptoms while you recover.
However, what happens when the doctor stops ordering your drugs? For some, restricted access to previously available substances can lead to serious drug crimes.
Addiction
Many people develop a dependency on medications after following a legitimate prescription protocol. Some of the most common and most addictive drugs include:
- Vicodin
- OxyContin
- Percocet
- Demerol
- Darvocet
Doctor shopping
Many addicts attempt to gain access to their preferred drugs by doctor shopping or making numerous visits to various clinics in hopes of attaining a prescription. These patients will lie to medical practitioners, misrepresenting or embellishing symptoms in desperate attempts to attain their next fix.
The Uniform Narcotic Drug Act prohibits doctor shopping, and doctors who fail to check for signs of abuse before issuing prescriptions for opioids, narcotics or other serious medications may also face criminal charges.
Drug sharing
Even if your intentions are good, letting someone else take your medications is a serious health risk because you have no knowledge of that person’s medical history, allergies or potential drug interactions. For this reason, distributing drugs without a medical license is a crime. Therefore, sharing your personal prescription medication with another person is against federal and Tennessee state law.
A drug conviction can have a lasting impact on your future. If you are struggling with dependency on prescription medication, it is important to seek treatment before your addiction takes control of every aspect of your life.
